Smart Motorways

[andrew882]

"This would create a "quiet" Lane for motorists who feel threatened by the cut and thrust of motorway driving, or motorists who just can't be arsed changing lane."

We've already got this, surely?

Lane 2.

[DavidS]

Which begs the question, why are people happy to follow a truck for mile after mile with no view ahead other than it’s diff? Or be comfortable doing 50 with a truck tailgating, assuming they know it’s there, of course.

[Oop North John]

Which begs the question, why are people happy to follow a truck for mile after mile with no view ahead other than it’s diff? Or be comfortable doing 50 with a truck tailgating, assuming they know it’s there, of course.

I'm assuming you're meaning car drivers? If you are, it might be because they see the trucks do it exceedingly well themselves?

[SteveW]

Trucks will be in Lane two doing 56mph.
Lane one should be mostly cars I expect.

[garyboy]

Now that Boris has assumed the banner of `champion of the people .. especially if you are a northerner .. and please vote for me again`
.. while disassociating himself from the previous nasty natstzi tory party
.. while still keeping up the war on poverty (by attacking poor people)
.. while sidestepping his official advisors and getting great advice from his girlfriend and best mate, the dominator
.. while clearing the whitehall swamp
.. and forging a new brighter future for Great Britain
(its complicated)

to add to his great innovations in advancing uk infrastructure
perhaps he will come up with the idea of..

superhighways

.. high speed motorway routes, to cover all the country
.. speeds up to 120mph
.. advanced drivers only, with yearly updated certificates, through driving tests
.. bikes and cars only, and small vans maybe?
.. half yearly MOTs need for all user vehicles

.. 6 lane highways
.. abundant Aires and informal stop point areas with facilities etc
.. many cake and coffee outlets
.. double width hard shoulders
.. double width central reservations
.. AI controlled gantries with individual car specific signage/warnings
.. many off slip road
.. few on slip roads, but wider/more
.. minimum speed limit of 70mph
.. garage workshop facilities along the routes
.. checks on tyres at beginning of journeys, inc certificates etc
.. time bans for transgressions


common sense really ... perhaps Boris is the dawn of a new era for Britain?

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Great idea Gary, but instead he'll be building a bridge between (independent) Scotland and (soon to be united) Ireland.

He could call it the Union Bridge: celebrating the Union of the United Kingdom. Then when the inevitable happens, with a little tweak to the sign, it could become the European Union Bridge..

There are a few obstacles: high winds, strong currents, big tides, the 576 ft deep trench in the North Channel between the two countries that was filled with surplus bombs at the end of WW2; but these are mere details to a man of his calibre.

[garyboy]

ah yes ,, the Boris bridge .. I vaguely remember some mention of it fairly recently so looked it up ..

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/ ... d-northern

I was also thinking about dams to the north sea and irish sea .. why has no one thought ot that .. mm.. well .. they did ..

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/gi ... spartandhp

also .. I had forgotten that the chunnel link was acgtually HS1 ,, high speed one.
What if this idea was extended to all UK .. transporting cars and bikes all along the lengths of the UK .. drop off where you want .. and then ride your car .. just locally ….. good idea?


then there is the EU / UK / Ireland / Scotland / Wales thing ..

I think there will be a united Ireland (I said this before in the `EU in or out` thread … and also said that I hoped Scotland would become independent because I can't understand their accent, and their weather forecast messes ours up

also an independent Scotland and independent Wales, perhaps even an independent North of England and SW .. BUT .. they will all work very closely together .. makes sense dunnit .. perhaps even closer then nowerdays. .. and the EU will be our biggest ally and asset

Trade will increawe in the world, with Africa etc becoming more advanced than us .. with China at the helm of it all .. all just before the zombie apocalypse starts

[garyboy]

edit

I suppose a more feasable idea is to have elec trains, powered by induction lines underground, for passengers, then elec cars the other end of the journey, for hire .. pick up and leave .. like boris bikes? .. for cities

but u own elec car for holidays/rural journeys?

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Back in Victorian times, they build the Grand Central Railway...which went from Liverpool via Birmingham and London, to the site of the Channel Tunnel, that they also started to build, but didn't finish (conflict in Europe between theFrench and Prussians).

The track alignments are mostly still there...and when the Channel Tunnel first opened there was a proposal to restore the track, and use it to run sea freight landed in Liverpool right the way down the track and into mainland Europe. This would have had a big impact on the amount of truck traffic on the M6. the idea was to use multi-modal freight trailers that could be loaded onto rail wagons and also be drawn by conventional articulated truck tractor units.

Amazingly, all those groups who are forever saying "get freight off the roads and onto railways" came out against the idea because the track ran through cities and would cause noise and pollution. They ran a successful campaign to kill the scheme.

[garyboy]

Had to do some reading on this post by Richard … I did not realise that the tunnel excavations used advanced boring machines .. almost 150 years ago. .. 14 foot diameter rotary heads with metal teeth, the waste manhandled backwards, internally, .. but run by compressed air !! supplying power and breathing air ..

Perhaps less surprising was the political arguing and stale mates .. again over European access. .. as well as Rail v Road wrangling. .. and new rail access routes planning

things have not changed that much, then